Photos: shooting in east London

A police car is parked outside the townhouse at 309 Marconi Blvd., second door from the left, which was hit with a shotgun blast early Tuesday morning.
Derek Ruttan/The London Free PressDerek Ruttan/Derek Ruttan/London Free Press

The glass in the screen door at 309 Marconi Blvd. is shattered after being hit by a shotgun blast early Tuesday morning.
Derek Ruttan/The London Free PressDerek Ruttan/Derek Ruttan/London Free Press

Glass litters the doorstep outside the townhouse at 309 Marconi Blvd., which was hit by a shotgun blast early Tuesday morning.
Derek Ruttan/The London Free PressDerek Ruttan/Derek Ruttan/London Free Press

Cindy, a resident at 309 Marconi Blvd. who declined to give her last name, stands in her open front door behind the glass of a screen door shattered by a shotgun blast early Tuesday morning.
Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press

Officers arrived on the scene in less than five minutes, said Cindy, who has lived at 309 Marconi Blvd. since 2014 with her two sons aged 18 and 21.

Nobody was injured in the shooting – the second time gunfire has damaged property this month – but the incident left neighbours in the geared-to-income complex rattled.

“I just want to leave. I just want to pack up and move. This isn’t even cool anymore.” resident Sabrina Reteff said.

Residents at the London and Middlesex Housing Corp. (LMHC) complex say there have been scary incidents in the past – tactical officers swooped in Friday to search a home, prompting a nearby elementary school to go into lockdown – but the gunfire was the last straw for Reteff and others.

“My children, they think this is supposed to be normal,” she said of Tuesday’s heavy police presence. “This is too much.”

Another neighbour, who didn’t want to be identified, echoed Reteff’s concerns.

“This is crazy, this insane,” said the woman, who moved into the the complex in the fall.

“My bed literally lays toward the window. My concern now is can we get shot in the head while we’re sleeping.”

“I think the big thing is not to characterize social housing or any of our sites as a place where these things happen more frequently or more often than in the community at large,” he said.

The gunplay comes just nine days after bullets damaged a vehicle and a home on Clifford Street, just east of Adelaide and Cheapside streets, on March 4. Nobody was hurt, said police, who called the shooting targeted.

A man, 25, and two women, 22 and 38, were charged with occupying a vehicle with a firearm. The man was additionally charged with a half-dozen offences including careless use of a firearm and possession of a firearm while prohibited.

Tuesday’s shooting also bears a striking resemblance to an Oct. 8, 2016, incident just one block away. A single shotgun blast was fired at the basement window of a home at 206 Marconi Blvd., where a group of young men had been hanging out. Nobody was injured and police never made any arrests in the case.

Police haven’t arrested any suspects in the latest shooting or said whether the townhouse was targeted. Cindy said she believes her home was simply caught in the crossfire.

“I know it’s not directed at us so that makes me feel a little more . . . ,” she said before trailing off.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.